Don't try to design the mold yourself; leave that to the foundry. Design the part so that it can be cast, preferably consulting with the foundry during the design process. I've had some experience designing cast parts.

I agree with Henry on this. Foundries that accept CAD files have advanced software that will alter the model so that it has the preferred draft angles on the vertical surfaces best suited for their manufacturing processes.

Even if they don't accept CAD files (I had to produce PDF files for a foundry in China because that was all they accepted), they still produced the products per the customer's needs because they know what they're doing.

Henry thanks for those tips and Jeff and thanks for your tips as well. Just examining the best way forward here as the designs can be fabricated 3 alternate ways and the idea for cast molded parts has just come up.

good to hear you're making progress.Fabrication is far more cost-effective, and adaptable, for a small number of units.Generally, in my experience, casting in aluminium is cheaper for larger production runs.Depending on complexity, you might also produce your own patterns/moulds?You'll need to check your costings carefully.

All the best.

Regards Tim

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You can design without engineering, but you cannot engineer without design.Using Win 10 with Designer 2017 and TurboCAD Pro. Plat. 2016/2017/2018 + Lightworks (64-bit versions).

Tim thanks to yourself and others for their support here with TurboCAD, I could not have done it on my own. Even my design renders that I post to linkedin have improved dramatically. Got two companies that are now building these designs for testing and evaluation and hoping that they get across the line and go into formal production. Theyre just fabricating the same way I did with early designs and if all goes well then its most likely that casting and molding will be the desired way to build.